Location Based Services Information Storage and Transport

Abstract

Methods, systems and computer program products for providing an adaptive active location information gathering algorithm are described. Specifically, significant information density gains can be achieved by using an adaptive active location information gathering algorithm. The adaptive algorithm may select a compression and decompression encoding appropriate to deliver maximum information density while being adjusted automatically to accommodate variations including velocity and duration changes within a defined reporting period to ensure versatility and maximum efficiency.

1 . A method comprising:
 determining a first location of a device;   based on a trigger, determining a second location of the device;   compressing the first location and second location as an initial location and an offset from the initial location, where the offset is an angle and a distance; and   transmitting location information associated with the initial location to a remote device.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , where the trigger is an amount of time. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , where the trigger is a distance traveled. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , where the trigger is adaptively configured to change over the course of time that location information is compressed and transmitted. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , where the trigger is a distance, the method further comprising determining a third location of the device, and where the trigger to determine the second location of the device and the third location of the device is different. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining if the second location is insubstantially different from the first location in at least one aspect; and   if so, compressing the second location as only a distance from the first location.   
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , where the first location is of the form of a NMEA type location information prior to compression. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , where the compressing includes determining a resolution of a delta between the first location and the second location and further comprising setting a bit width of the information used to store the second location based on the delta. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein if the delta is less than a threshold, compressing includes reducing the bitwidth of an interval associated with the first and second locations. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the compressing includes reducing a bitwidth used to store the second location based on interval length. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , where compressing includes determining when the device stops between the first and second location and compressing the interval defined by the first and second location as a stop that reflects no change in the device location. 
   
   
       12 . A method comprising:
 determining an adaptive interval when to record location information associated with a device without requiring a user to select a fixed time interval, or a fixed distance interval in advance;   recording location information at each interval in the adaptive interval;   compressing the location information; and   transmitting the compressed information to a receiving device.   
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein determining an adaptive interval includes:
 evaluating a flow of GPS information available;   determining a performance threshold to achieve; and   determining a current interval based on the flow information and the performance threshold.   
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein compressing the location information further comprises evaluating individual locations based on a relationship between the locations, rather than describing the locations themselves. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising evaluating all the locations that are available, and placing each in an organizational structure in a sequence that minimizes the total spatial distances between each location. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , where the organizational structure is a route. 
   
   
       17 . A device comprising:
 a detector to determine a first location of the device, and a second location of the device based on a first trigger;   a compressor to compress the first location and second location as an initial location and an offset from the initial location, where the offset is an angle and a distance; and   a transmitter to transmit location information associated with the initial location to a remote device.   
   
   
       18 . The device of  claim 17 , wherein the first trigger is adaptively configured to change over the course of time that location information is compressed and transmitted. 
   
   
       19 . The device of  claim 18 , wherein:
 the first trigger is associated with a distance, where the detector is further configured to determine a third location of the device based on a second trigger, the first trigger to determine the second location of the device and the second trigger to determine the third location of the device being different.   
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the detector is further configured to determine if the second location is insubstantially different from the first location in at least one aspect, and compresses the second location as only a distance from the first location if the second location is insubstantially different from the first location in at least one aspect.